Do products from 'Dollar stores' work as well?
JerriEllijay
19 years ago
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earthworm
19 years agolazy_gardens
19 years agoRelated Discussions
Kind of OT-why some products no longer work well.
Comments (12)In my opinion things do work better than in the old times. I'm a veteran from those times. Hardwood floors required paste waxing and buffing now and then tokeep them shiny, then the dust readily showed. Vacuum cleaners are much more efficient now than then, many light weight, self-propelled with myriad of handy attachments. We never had household help but mom kept house until WWII when women went to work. She had one day for washing and hanging out clothes and one day just for ironing. I do my wash, folding, and "ironing" in one morning while I watch TV and bake bread. The problem these days is not the expectation to be clean as I see signs of "unclean" everywhere, clutter in yards, garages not even a volkswagen would fit in. The problem is too much of everything. When we thought we had finally made it, 35 years ago, we bought a house with 4 bedrooms and a 3 car garage, and believe it or not, we can drive 3 cars into it every day. We just got rid of the third car (pickup) as we only have 2 drivers. Today, our house is considered medium but this is it for me. My daughter, who has been a housewife most of the time has a 5 bedroom house, 5 kids still at home could never keep a neat house until she got a housekeeper, comes in every two weeks, 2 ladies work on her house about 4 hours and leave it sparkling everywhere. She has to stay on the kids to keep their things put away and that appears to be her fulltime job. There's many more conveniences we could purchase but my goal now is to keep it as simple as possible. Too much floor space to keep organized and clean. I won't do it unless we get some household help which I've never had. The biggest problem is so much unneeded stuff we don't really need. If I didn't have clutter, my house can be cleaned in a couple of hours. All closets are full of clothes, bedding, seasonal stuff, toiletries,etc. No place to hide more stuff and we refuse to toss stuff in the garage. It's still my goal to clean them out, donate or toss but that takes ambition and time which seems harder to come by these days. FlyLady where are you?...See MoreDollar stores vs name brand products
Comments (25)c t - "I rarely shop at the dollar stores. ..." "The extra time to make the trip isn't worth i." --- I understand that for you (and perhaps many other people), it may be different, but for me, I live about 1/2 mile away from a Dollar Tree. I pass right by it nearly half the time I go anywhere. It is more convenient to get to than nearly any other place I might go. That said, I don't go there often... sometimes no more than once in a month or 2. "A lot of the food is junk food / dozens of broken plastic utensils...but they were a bargain ..." --- I agree (partly). Not everything at a dollar store is a wise purchase. Some things (including some food items) are low quality, cheaply made, and should be avoided. If "everyone" decided not to purchase these sort of items, and left them on the shelf, the stores (likely) would not carry them anymore (sadly, people do buy them). But, they do have many quality, brand-name items. Even some of those are not a bargain. For example, they usually have a small package of "Aleve" or "Excedrin" (typically 6 pills per package). Approximately 50 pills would cost $8.00, 100 pills for $17.00, and 200 for $33.00. This is more than twice what you would probably pay for the larger sizes, even at regular (non sale) prices at other stores like CVS, Osco, Target, Walmart, or K-Mart. Another thing to watch out for is "expire dates" (sell by/use by/best by-dates). It's common to find food items that are near or past their prime, and these are rarely a bargain. But still, you can sometimes find some brand name food items that are a good deal even if they are near their "best-by" date, if it is something that you use up fairly quickly. And many other non-food items can be found that are also good deals....See MoreHow to take two dollar store garlands and ....
Comments (37)Beautiful! I am so jealous! I did not know this trick until our wedding florist told me about it. We had seen a photo of a magnolia garland and wanted to copy it for our daughters wedding reception. I thought it would be very costly, but went ahead and asked the florist about it anyway. He said "simple...it won't cost you a thing!" The reception building owner already had the artificial garland (we just used one strand of garland - didn't need two) and I took cuttings from a friends ginormous magnolia tree. We wanted something simple, yet elegant. This is what the garland looked like. A professional photographer took this photo. Unfortunately, I don't have enough evergreen to use from my new yard to decorate my home....See MoreWhat are your favorite dollar store purchases?
Comments (27)I haven't shopped in dollar stores for a few years now. Simply because it is imported items of a low value, which reflects in the price. Some items are counterfit to look like brand names (even if they aren't brands WE recognize). Others may have quality issues - such as toothpaste that contains antifreeze. Some of the decorative items are cast offs from factories (where workers are paid pennies per day and there are no standards for safety for worker nor consumer) or the makers are paid almost nothing as piece work. Again, there is no way to know what materials are being used and how the items are being made. I don't want to support the exploitation of a cheap workforce that is being abused, simply to get a little vase with a crooked hand painted design for a dollar. Local companies cannot compete with these cheap products so they undermine our economy. They also underscore the idea that it is cheapness and quantity and not QUALITY workmanship that should be a priority. We are a disposable society. Go ahead and throw it out, you can get a new one at the dollar store. With rising prices and sinking wages I know that there are many who feel they cannot afford NOT to shop in the dollar store, and I commiserate. But for me, it was a choice I made for myself, my family, and my community. And I am sticking with it ROFL....See Morelindac
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